


War Never Changes

by Casey_Wolfe



Category: Band of Brothers, Fallout 3, Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Established Relationship, Fallout AU, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-Slash, Rare Pairings, Romance, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-10 09:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6978706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casey_Wolfe/pseuds/Casey_Wolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We’re born in the vault.  We die in the vault.”  If only that were true.  Because, war?  War never changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Sometimes I really hate Tumblr for giving me ideas.](http://malarked.tumblr.com/post/133552468028/w%E1%B4%87%CA%9F%E1%B4%84%E1%B4%8F%E1%B4%8D%E1%B4%87-%E1%B4%9B%E1%B4%8F-vault-506-%CA%8F%E1%B4%8F%E1%B4%9C%CA%80-%C9%B4%E1%B4%9C%E1%B4%8D%CA%99%E1%B4%87%CA%80-%E1%B4%8F%C9%B4%E1%B4%87) I LOVE Fallout- one of my fave video game series ever- and so when the idea got put in my head I had to do it. For those of you who haven’t played the Fallout games, that’s okay. Just think of it as a post-apocalypse AU and you’re good to go. I also explain what I feel are the important bits of the universe, so you’re covered there. It should be noted I took ideas from both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, smooshed them together, and added my own stuff. So for those of you who are fans of one or both games, you’ll probably get a little more out of it. Enjoy!

“Dick.”  Nixon was leaning in the doorway of Winters’ bedroom.  “Overseer wants to see you.”

Sighing, Dick finished tying his shoes and rose from the bed.  “Another lecture about being safe out there?”  He grabbed the pistol left on the dresser, holstering it at his hip.  He knew he should have had it in a footlocker for safety purposes but he never left his unit without it anyway, whether on duty or not.

“It seems that someone messed with Andy,” Nix spoke of the Mr. Handy robot.  “Again.”

“I am going to kill them,” Winters declared, brushing past Nix into the livingroom.

“Hence why I’m coming with,” Nix laughed.  “I wanna see it.”

There was no question as to who the culprits were.  Dick understood that being stuck underground with a bunch of other people wasn’t exactly ideal and young men were bound to get bored, but they couldn’t keep messing with vault property.  Everyone counted on things to work properly in order to keep everyone safe, fed, and happy.

Vault 101 was their home, and like the other state-of-the-art bunkers made by Vault-Tec it was meant to see them through disaster.  Their vault had done just that two hundred years ago when the bombs fell.  It continued to protect them from the latent radiation and the dangerous creatures out in the wasteland, but they couldn’t hope to stay down there forever.

The time when the vault doors would be opened was a lot closer than most people realized.

“Everything ready to go?” Dick asked, grabbing a protein bar and giving one to Nix as well.  Neither of them were much for breakfast, mostly because meals involved going down to the cafeteria and dealing with people that early in the morning wasn’t Nixon’s strong suit.  It was how Dick ended up feeding him more mornings than not.

“All the gear is waiting in the locker room,” Nixon confirmed, speaking of the coded storage area off limits to all but a few in the vault.

“Let’s deal with this then so we can go.  I want a full day of scouting.”  It was getting harder to do these outings of theirs without others catching on.

Nix just grinned, chewing on his protein bar as he tailed after Winters.

They made their way through the residential area of the vault, each unit practically identical- one to three bedrooms with a livingroom and bathroom.  It was mostly families in the vault of nearly one hundred people but there were still those that lived alone or with a group of friends.  Nixon had been talking about moving into Dick’s single-bedroom unit for what seemed like forever, except neither of them had made the first move- with their habitation or their relationship.

They passed through the atrium that connected the three sections of the vault- living quarters, main level, and administration- heading for the maintenance access that led deeper into the vault, under the main level.  Beneath the cafeteria, school, clinic, and other social areas was everything that made the vault run.

“Malarkey,” Dick called when he spotted the man working on one of the water pumps.

“Oh, hey,” he greeted casually.  “Need something?”

“Which one of you had the brilliant idea to reprogram Andy?”  The Mr. Handy robot was a leftover of pre-war tech, designed to be a household servant of sorts.  Andy helped to take care of the residents on the main level, while other Handys like Rusty worked in the maintenance tunnels helping with repairs and keeping work orders.

“No idea what-”

“Muck!  Penkala!  You two can come out as well.”

Muck appeared from the other side of the generator across the room, dirt smearing his face.  “Hey,” he said with a wave.  Penkala poked his head out from around the corner, a sheepish grin on his face.

“No more,” Dick ordered.  “I don’t want to hear another word about you three doing  _ anything  _ for the next  _ month  _ or so help me…”

Malarkey held his hands up in surrender.  “We got it.  I’ll go fix Andy.”

“Thank you.”  Dick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  “I get that you’re all just having a bit of fun, but it’s starting to cause issues.  And when it becomes issues, Sink comes down on  _ me  _ for it.”  As head of Vault Security, Dick caught the flack from the Overseer and he had more than enough to worry about without having to deal with the prankster trio on top of it.

“Got it sir,” Muck assured.  At least they all looked sincere after that.

Once they left the tunnels, Nix smirked over at him.  “Went a little easy on them, didn’t you?”

Dick sighed.  “I can’t be all that mad at them.  They’re a bunch of bored kids with too much time on their hands.”

“We can always break more things to keep them busy,” Nix suggested.  The truth was that the trio kept things running smoothly in the vault most of the time.

Winters only shook his head.

In the Security Office they found Buck sitting behind the desk.  “For the love of God,” he said as soon as he saw them, “order Spina to clear me for duty,” he spoke of their doctor.

“Not enjoying desk duty?” Nix teased, sitting on the corner of the desk.

“I should be going on the scout today,” Buck argued.

“Sorry Buck,” Dick replied, clapping him on the shoulder on his way to his small office.  “Until Spina says you’re alright-”

“I  _ am  _ alright!  It was a flesh wound.  There’s no infection.  I have full mobility.”  The last time they were out, Buck had been nailed with shrapnel from an encounter with raiders, which not only left him out of scouting missions for the foreseeable future but also benched at work.

“Just take advantage of the time off,” Nix encouraged.  Buck huffed but couldn’t say anything more as one of the other guards came in.

“Morning,” Babe greeted, adjusting the holster around his waist.  He was still getting used to the weight of it, having passed his testing to become a security officer not all that long ago.

“See Buck,” Nix continued, “at least you’ll have company.”

Babe’s brows furrowed.  “Is something going on?”

“Nothin’ important.  The XO and myself get to have an administration meeting with Overseer Sink today.”

Babe nodded.  “I’ll be sure to help Lieutenant Compton if he needs it sir.”

“I can take care of myself y’know,” Buck groused.  “I’m not an invalid.”

“No, I didn’t mean-”  Babe flushed.  “I just meant if you needed someone to run errands or go check on something or-”

“Relax Babe,” Buck replied.  “I know.”

“Hold the fort Buck,” Winters said, coming out of his office with a couple holotapes in hand.  He passed one over to Nix, the blank tapes ready for new data.  “Can’t say how long we’ll be, so have a good shift you two.”

“Thank you sir,” Babe replied, Buck offering a hand in farewell.

Down the hall and into Sink’s office they went, and after a quick assurance that the Andy matter was settled they were allowed into the secret emergency tunnel that connected the Overseer’s office directly to the entryway of the vault.  It was safer to go that route instead of the main tunnel that would be certain to draw attention.

“I still say we should have brought Christenson,” Nix mentioned.  Their fellow security officer was still young but had natural skill and followed direction well.  Nixon had also suggested he join the recon team because of his natural drawing ability.  It was a hobby that could come in handy, recording layouts and terrain in a way their Pip Boys couldn’t.

“You heard Sink.  We’re the only ones allowed out.”

Nix huffed.  He knew Dick liked it no better than him but that didn’t mean they had to accept it.  They really should have had more than just three people, even if they didn’t all go out at the same time, if nothing more than for situations like this where they found themselves down a man.  But no, the Overseer had insisted only the three senior officers be aware of the operation.

The vault door was meant to stay closed until the surface was safe to inhabit again.  That was the official story anyway.  In truth, they had been making forays out into the wasteland in secret, scouting the area, observing the locals, and making contact.  They were preparing to open the vault but Sink wouldn’t give the go ahead until they had more information.

“Dress out and let's go,” Dick chastised, already pulling his armor from the locker.

Everyone in the vault wore distinctive blue jumpsuits with yellow accents and the vault’s number on the back and smaller logo on the chest.  Individuality wasn’t apparently in Vault-Tec’s planning.  To go out into the wasteland they had some pieces of light leather armor that was a mixture of made and traded- they hadn’t been the first ones to venture out.

Nix watched as Dick attached the armor around his shin, his leg up on the bench.  He followed the long line of Dick’s leg up along every curve that the skintight suits did nothing to hide.  It wasn’t the first time he looked at Dick and it wouldn’t be the last.  It also wouldn’t be the last time he was caught but as usual Dick only smiled at him.

“Come on,” Dick encouraged gently.

Nix hurried to catch up while Dick checked the weapons.  Whereas simple 10mm pistols were the standard of the security detail in the vault- and really there wasn’t any call for anything more powerful- their recon team had access to a special cache of assault rifles and shotguns.  Someone along the lines had even managed a hunting rifle with a high-powered scope.

Putting the strap of the assault rifle over his shoulder, Dick went over to the vault door controls.  He pulled the connector cord from his Pip Boy- the portable computers all vault dwellers wore on their wrists- and popped it into the console.  It opened the panel, allowing the passcode to be entered and with a press of a button the warning light flashed and alarm sounded.  The vault door was opening.

The massive gear-shaped door was pulled out before it rolled to the side.  Dick returned the connector and smiled over his shoulder at Nix.  “Ready?”

Nix couldn’t help but smile back.  “Ready.”  Rifle in hand he followed Dick back into the wasteland once more.


	2. Chapter 2

They held their hands up to shield their eyes from the morning sun when they emerged from the tunnel leading into the vault.  To those that lived above ground it was normal, but to them it was a blinding experience.  In that moment of vulnerability, they found themselves face to face with the barrel of a gun.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the stranger said as they both moved for their weapons.  “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Dick reached behind him, feeling for Nix and putting their backs together as they took in the fact they were surrounded.  Hand still hovering over his sidearm, Dick knew full well that the rough half dozen men had them thoroughly outgunned.  There were even two perched up in the rocks above the entrance.

Dick’s focus went back to the stranger at the front, eyes narrowed on him.  “Sure took you boys long enough to come out of that hole,” the man mused.

“Raiders,” Nix growled, fingers flexing around his rifle.

“You’re not getting in the vault,” Dick assured.  Neither of them would give up the code.

“We came to talk,” was the man’s reply, lowering his weapon so they could see his face.  It was rough, in need of a shave and streaked in dirt, his dark hair an artful mess.  The rest of the men seemed just as disheveled, their clothing thrown together leather and metal, only reinforcing the raider theory.

When their apparent leader holstered his sidearm in a gesture of goodwill, Dick noticed the Pip Boy on his wrist.  As he stole another quick glance at the others he saw that most of them had one as well- although their weapons were still trained on them.  Given that the general production line on Pip Boys hadn’t rolled out before the bombs fell, there was really only one way to get them.

“Who’d you kill to get that Pip Boy?” he demanded.

The man’s lips twitched in what appeared to be amusement.  Reaching up, he undid the zipper on his leather jacket partway, pulling it aside to reveal a familiar blue with yellow numbers.

“Vault 111?”

Dick glanced over to Nix who supplied, “That one’s up in the Commonwealth, outside Boston.”  It paid to have Nix as their intelligence officer.  It was one of the many qualities that got him to Captain, Dick’s second-in-command.

“You’re all from there?” Dick asked skeptically.

The man shrugged a shoulder.  “Something like that.”

“Well you’ll forgive me if I have trouble believing that,” Nix shot back.  “You could have just as easily stolen those jumpsuits as you did the Pip Boys.”

“Fair enough,” the stranger conceded.  “But we didn’t.”

A pair of men chose to make their appearance then, jogging up the hill.  “Hold up,” the first ordered.  “Everybody calm down.”  He turned to the man they’d been speaking with, shaking his head.  “Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?”

The man smirked back at him.  “We were handling it.”

Snorting, the newcomer turned to them, palms showing in appeasement.  “Look, I’m sorry about these assholes.  My name’s Lipton, Carwood Lipton.”  He pointed at their leader.  “This idiot here is Ron Speirs.”  He introduced the others in turn: George Luz, Doc Roe, and Joe Liebgott, with Bill Guarnere- “Wild Bill”- and Joe Toye perched up above.  At least all the guns had finally been lowered.

“Dick Winters, Lewis Nixon,” Dick introduced in turn.  “Vault 101 Security.”

“We didn’t mean to startle you,” Lipton apologized.  “We’ve been sitting out here awhile now waiting on someone to come out.  Word over in Megaton was that you guys were pretty regular.”

The nearby settlement of Megaton had been a first contact point for Vault 101 when they ventured out.  It was also a regular stop whenever they were on a scout.  It was no surprise that the residents there had shared the vault location or the fact they came and went with these strangers.

“We really are from Vault 111,” Lipton continued.  “Well, except Toye.”

“Merc,” Luz supplied, the man that had arrived with Lipton.  “He was worth the caps too.”

“Best money can buy,” Toye remarked, his voice rough and smokey, grinning from his rocky perch.

“To give you the short version,” Lipton explained, getting back on track, “we’re putting together a trade route with various caravans and settlements.  Originally we thought about relocating down here to the Capital Wasteland,” he spoke of the area surrounding what used to be D.C., “but according to the traders that came through, it was just as bad down here.”

“They would be right,” Liebgott muttered.

“So,” Speirs spoke up, “we figured opening trade was the next best thing.  Benefit everyone.”

“Why look here?” Nix asked.

Speirs smirked.  “What better place to find supplies than another vault?  Vault-Tec may have been bastards but at least they knew how to stock these tin cans.”

“That,” Lipton supplied, “and most settlements don’t seem to want to deal with us.”

“Well,” Liebgott argued, “the ones down here at least.  Back in the Commonwealth we got a rep.  Most places were happy to set up trade routes with us.”

“You’ve contacted some of the other vaults in the Capital Waste?” Nix asked, brightening at the prospect of gaining new intel and maybe get in touch with some of them finally.

The men all traded looks and it was Speirs that answered, “Something like that.”

Lipton sighed.  “How much do you know about the vault program?”

“Nix and I have had full access to the Vault-Tec system for years,” Dick answered honestly.  He didn’t sense that these men were lying and he was just as curious as Nix to find out about the other vaults.  “We know that their intention was that Vault 101 would never be open.  Some… social experiment.  But Overseer Taylor made the call to send out recon teams to get a feel of the area.  He ended up putting a stop to it after only a few missions when one of them got killed.  We didn’t start exploring again until a couple years ago under Overseer Sink.”

Lipton sighed, looking over at Speirs.  They seemed to communicate silently before it was Lipton that explained, “Your vault ain’t the only experiment.  Every single vault was a different scientific study of one thing or another.  It seems that a lot of them didn’t make it.”  Seeing that they both found it hard to believe, Lipton looked over at Luz.  “Give me that holotape we got at Vault-Tec HQ.”

Luz grumbled as he took a knee, pulling off his rather large pack.  “Yeah, not like I have to sort through thirty holotapes to find it.”

Ignoring him, Lipton said, “We managed to break into the headquarters here in D.C.  We were hoping to get vault locations and whatever other intel and salvage we could find.”

“Here it is.”  Luz put the holotape in Lipton’s hand.

“Instead, we found this.”  Lipton held the holotape out towards Dick who took it cautiously.  He opened up the drive of his Pip Boy, sliding the tape in and bringing up the files on it.  “All the vaults and the experiments they were conducting in them.”

Dick’s jaw fell and in his ear from where he was looking over his shoulder, Nix breathed, “This can’t be real.”

“Believe it,” Speirs replied.  “You can see for yourself what they have to say about Vault 111.”

Dick scrolled down, past the same exact information they had about their own vault, to 111.  “Cryo storage?”  He looked at Speirs for an answer.

“You’re looking at the only six survivors of Vault 111’s long-term cryo study.”

“We were all former military living in Sanctuary Hills when the bombs fell,” Lipton spoke of the neighborhood Vault 111 was based next to.  “We only woke up after a failure in the life support systems.  Less than a year ago.”

Nix grabbed Dick’s wrist, giving it a squeeze.  Dick was simply staring at Lipton in disbelief.

“My ass hurts over here,” Bill called down from the rocks.  “Ya think maybe we can move this little party somewhere else?”

“Preferably somewhere with beds and booze,” Toye added.

“Yeah, yeah.”  Speirs waved them down.  “Look, we can get into story time later.  The first matter of business is trade.  I assume the only reason your Overseer let you out again is because you need supplies yourselves.”

Dick and Nix looked at each other.  Like Speirs and Lipton, they had known each other long enough to speak without words and they were both hesitant to tell these strangers any details of the vault.  With a small nod, Nix left it up to Dick to decide.

“Our agriculture system isn’t sustainable any longer.  We’ve been keeping the filtration systems going on hopes and prayers.  We don’t have the right salvage for it.”

“And getting anything from Megaton is a bitch,” Nix huffed, still bitter they’d only been able to get limited things from time to time.  At least Malarkey, Muck, and Penkala didn’t ask questions when parts suddenly showed up with their various scrap.

“If we can’t get it fixed properly, we’re going to need food.  And the water purifiers are likely to go next.”

“If the air filtration goes,” Nix admitted, “then we’re really screwed.”

“So you're basically scouting for an out,” Luz figured.

“Well,” Dick replied, “that’s our goal is to have as much information about everything outside the vault as we can, just in case.  But Overseer Sink seems convinced we can trade for things before it would come to that.”

“We could probably find you what you need,” Speirs replied, looking over at Liebgott to his right.

Scratching the corner of his mouth, Liebgott said, “Yeah.  If you get us a list we can probably scrounge what you need to get things fixed.  In the meantime, I think food’s pretty easy.”

“Yeah?”  Nix brightened, looking at Dick who was a bit more hesitant.

“And what would you want in return?”

Speirs looked to his left then.  It was Doc Roe that spoke, his voice low.  “Medical supplies.  Antibiotics mostly.  Bandages.”  He bit his lower lip, muffling his added, "And scissors," ignoring the collective groans and eye rolls of his teammates.

Dick nodded.  “We have plenty to spare.”  If it was one thing they didn’t lack for it was medical supplies.  The residents of the vault had always been rather healthy and there wasn’t a lot of accidents to speak of.  The vault had been well-stocked besides.

“Well, why don’t we take this back to town,” Lipton suggested.  “Just got us all set up at one of the bars for some beds.  These guys have been out here with no sleep for a couple days now waitin’ on you.”

“We dozed in shifts,” Speirs refuted but to Dick they all did seem a bit worse for wear.

“Of course,” Dick agreed.  He took hold of Nix’s wrist all the same, insuring he would stay close as they started on the familiar short trek to Megaton.

“How many of you have surface experience?” Speirs inquired after lighting up a cigarette.  Dick gave him a look sideways that made the man chuckle.  “Relax.  I’m not probing for a defense report.  Just want to know how many people we might be able to count on to help us out.”

It was Nix that time that got deferred to and so he opted for honesty.  “There’s just three of us.  Buck’s out on an injury.  But we’ve got a couple other good men that we’ve been wanting to bring with us.”

“Overseer gettin’ in the way?” Liebgott guessed, pacing the pair at their other side.

“More or less.”

Lipton was walking on the other side of Speirs.  “Will he be a problem moving forward with this?” he asked.  “I’d be willing to talk to him if you think it would help.”

“Probably better if we handle it,” Winters replied.  He didn’t even want to _imagine_ the fallout if they just showed up with an outsider in tow.  Besides, Dick still wasn’t fully sold on this group just yet.

“Fair enough,” Speirs replied, continuing to smoke.

They arrived in Megaton, the locals greeting them with a mix of welcome and annoyance.  It was always the way of it in the city though.  Some people just didn’t want vault dwellers around.  It appeared that no one knew that the 111 guys were just that, or maybe no one cared since they apparently had caps to spend- what accounted for money out in the wasteland.

As soon as they stepped through the door of Welsh’s Saloon the owner yelled at Dick and Nix, “I thought I told you last time you were here that if you didn’t have caps then you weren’t welcome.”

Speirs looked at Harry evenly, pulling a handful of caps out of his pocket and slamming them onto the counter.  “They’re with us.  So shut up and pour the booze already.”

Harry huffed but happily accepted the caps before starting to pour shots for everyone.  Speirs attempted to pass one over to Dick, who held his hand up.  “Thanks but I don’t drink.”

Speirs only shrugged and tossed it back himself.  “How ‘bout you?” he asked Nix, picking up the next one.

“From time to time.”  Nix accepted the shotglass though he grimaced after drinking it.  “What the hell is this?  You call _this_ whiskey?”

“Oh, cultured are we?” Harry mocked.

“My case of Vat 69 seems to agree.”

Harry’s brows shot up.  “You have a whole case?”  Nix smirked.  “We need to do a trade.”

“I thought you said ‘no trade’ the first time we were in here.”  He looked at Dick.  “Isn’t that what he said?”  He mocked Harry’s voice then.  “‘Does this look like a trading post?  No caps, no booze, no service.’”

Dick couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head.  “I’m not getting into it Nix.”  Leaving his best friend to argue over whiskey with Harry, Dick joined the Vault 111 guys in one of the small sitting areas.

“So wha’d they pick you to come out here for?” Bill asked.  Most of the others were dressed in a mixture of old world military gear and some new word jerry-rigged armor, but Bill stood out with his pre-war fedora and a long coat over his plated armor that looked like the covers of those old detective novels Dick borrowed from Webster.

“I’m head of Vault Security,” Dick answered, accepting the Nuka Cola Lipton brought him along with bottles of beer for the group.  “Nix is my Captain and Buck is my Lieutenant.  We’ve been wanting to involve some more of the guys but Overseer Sink is set against it.”

“Think you can train ‘em up?” Speirs asked.  His attention was drawn to Lipton who sat up against him on the couch.  Speirs just casually wrapped his arm over Lipton’s shoulders.

When he looked back at Dick for an answer, he replied, “Of course.  I have a lot of confidence in them, which was why I suggested it in the first place…  Not sure why that matters.”

“Because any type of trading going on will attract attention.”

“Raiders, scavengers, mercenaries,” Liebgott supplied.  “All kinds.”

Dick frowned, not having thought about it like that.  “I’m not sure that would go over with the rest of the vault very well.  I don’t even know that most of them will _want_ to open up trade.”

“Do they know what’s going on?” Lipton asked.

“No, but that doesn’t matter.  They would probably just say to find the parts and be done with it and close the vault back up.  Most people were born in that vault.  They believe they’re going to die in it.  That’s just the way it is.”

“Most people?” Roe asked.  Now that he was paying attention, Dick could see the vault blue of the collar popping out from under the leather armor Roe wore across his shoulders.  It somehow didn’t fit the man’s gentle demeanor to be in armor, unlike the rather harsh looking metal that Toye wore underneath a tattered brown duster or the studded leather armor traveling Liebgott’s right arm.

Dick tapped his finger against the soft drink bottle.  “Like I said, the vault was opened before.  During that short time… my father moved us into the vault.  I was just a kid.  He tried to save the life of the recon member that was shot but…”

Nix had apparently joined them, speaking up from over Dick’s shoulder and making him jump.  “Not everyone knows it though.  Course all the older people do, but they’re sworn to secrecy about it.  Me and Buck are about the same age as Dick so we have some memory of it.”

Nix plopped into the chair next to Dick then.  “Nope, ‘we’re born in the vault, we die in the vault,’” Nix repeated the belief drilled into all of the vault dwellers from birth.  It kept them in line, kept them from asking too many questions, and Dick hated being apart of that hypocrisy.  It was why he worked so hard to continue pushing a more active role in the Capital Wasteland.

“That is twisted,” Luz commented with a cigarette between his lips.  “Talk about drinking the Koolaid.”  His tan military field jacket was left open, revealing the flack vest that covered his own vault suit- they really _had_ all pieced together whatever they’d been able to find.

“So you fought before the bombs fell?” Nix asked, changing the subject.

“We all fought in Operation Anchorage,” Speirs answered.  “Although not together.  Luz was a radioman, Roe was a medic… but we’re all riflemen first and foremost.”

“Ron led the company that took the fort to capture General Jingwei,” Lipton explained.

“Power armor?” Nixon assumed, speaking of the advanced suits of armor the military developed to help protect troops.  They were like personal tanks if what was written was to be believed.  But it took specialized training to wear and it was expensive to make, so power units at the time were a highly trained fighting force.

“You know your history,” Liebgott complimented.

“We keep a full school running,” Dick replied.

“The brainwashing comes free,” Luz remarked with a laugh.

Toye reached over and tugged at the man’s vest, pulling Luz in so that they were face to face.  “Luz… how ‘bout you get me a drink?” he asked, voice even rougher than before.

Luz grinned.  “Not a bad idea Joe.”

As he got up to grab more booze- and really, how much could these guys put away?- Bill snagged Luz’s arm.  “‘Ey,” he complained, “what about me?”

“Damn you’re both needy tonight,” Luz muttered.

“When is that different from any other night?” Liebgott called after him.

“I’m not touching that one,” Roe commented.

“Children,” Lipton chastised, amusement clear, “Daddy said to behave.”

“Yes Mom,” they answered in unison, laughing while Lipton shook his head.

Even Speirs smirked at that.  He dropped a kiss down on Lipton’s head.  “When do we tell them they’re all adopted?”

Luz gasped, holding a hand over his heart- beer in hand.  “ _I’m_ adopted?” he admonished.  “And you didn’t tell me?!”

“George,” Bill complained.  “Booze.”

“Does that mean we can finally have sex?” he inquired while handing Bill his bottle.

“I’m not even dignifying that with a response.”

Toye stole another beer out of Luz’s hands before reaching up and pulling him down into his lap.  “Shut up Luz,” he said, though his tone was rather fond.  For his part, Luz only kicked his feet out onto Bill’s lap and tipped his own beer back.

Dick had no idea what to make of any of these guys.


	3. Chapter 3

“What the hell’s takin’ so long?” Bill complained.

“No idea,” Toye answered, laying out next to him.

Liebgott poked at the small campfire with a stick.  “You heard Speirs.  He wants to give them one more day.”

It was their shift to sit out at Vault 101’s entrance while the rest of the guys stayed back in Megaton to get some rest.  It was going on day four and they were starting to wonder if they shouldn’t just cut their losses and leave.

“Yeah?  Well I say fuck ‘em,” Bill threw back.  “We could have been half way back to the Commonwealth already.”

“I ain’t killed nobody in a week,” Toye added, flipping his switchblade out.  Bill pointed at him while looking at Liebgott bluntly.

The familiar sound of alarms echoing down the tunnel signaled the opening of the vault door, grabbing their attention.  However what spurred them into action was the gunfire that followed.

“Move!  Move!” they heard Winters yelling, the sound of feet coming their way.

“I got Web,” someone assured.

“Come on!” another man shouted.

First down the tunnel was a small strawberry blonde that squinted at the light, a death grip on his handgun.  “Shit!”  He started to raise the gun when he saw them but the man behind him helping with a wounded one ordered, “Move Babe!”

“Yeah, yeah okay.”  The kid called Babe looked white as a sheet.  He hollered back down the tunnel, “Grant!”

The next man to come running out of the tunnel was holding a rifle and wearing riot gear over his vault suit.  He leaned his back against the rock, ducking out of the way as his chest heaved.  “Christenson!” he called, signaling the next man to come.

“We got this,” Toye said, pushing the man out of the way and taking his place, pointing his rifle down the tunnel.  Bill took the other side, mirroring him.  While the next man rushed past them out of the tunnel, Liebgott was already calling in the rest of the guys for back up, kneeling beside Bill.

“Keep ‘em coming!” Bill yelled down the tunnel.  “We’ve got you covered!”

“Buck, move!” they heard Dick order.  “Nix, follow ‘im!”

The first out came with an unsteady gait, Nix not too far behind.  Right after that was Winters, firing behind him.  “That all of you?!” Liebgott asked.

“We’re clear!” Dick confirmed.

The trio didn’t need to hear anymore.  They opened up their own automatic rifles down the tunnel, causing their pursuers to run for cover.

Dick wasted no time giving his men orders.  “Buck, get them down the hill,” he gestured to Babe and the two that appeared to be civilians.  “Grant, Christensen,” he ordered the pair that was loaded for battle, “Nix, you’re with me.  Reload.  Check your gear.  We’re going back in for the others.”

The gunfire ceased, the trio at the tunnel watching carefully for signs of movement.  When none came, Bill tapped Liebgott on the shoulder.  “You two watch the line.”  He then moved over to the Vault 101 guys.  “What the hell happened in there?”

Dick slid a new magazine home, hitting the charging handle on the side of the rifle with a snap.  “All out war is what happened.”

It was then they saw Speirs and the rest of the squad running up the hill.  Speirs gestured for the retreating men to hold up when he noticed there were injuries.  “Roe!”  Their medic was already moving however.  “Luz, Lip, the tunnel.”  The pair moved as one to help reinforce their line.  “What’s going on?” Speirs asked, looking between Winters and Nix.

“We’re going back in for the rest of our group,” Dick answered.  “If you can spare a couple men to back us up…”

Shots rang out again when another charge was attempted down the tunnel.  “Frag that entrance!” Speirs ordered, Toye not even hesitating to pull out a grenade.  To Dick he asked, “How many people are we talking?”

“About twenty.  They’re all civilians.”  He nodded his head towards Grant and Christenson, “We were the only security they had.  But we got cut off.”

“The rest of the security team sided with Sobel,” Nix added with disdain.

“Malark!  Wait!” Babe yelled after the fiery redhead who had been helping the injured man out of the vault.

Ignoring Babe, the man went right up to Dick.  “I’m going too.”

“Malarkey-”

“No!  Those bastards killed Skip and Alex!”

“You don’t even know how to use a gun,” Nix reasoned.

“It isn’t that hard.”

Another explosion from a second grenade went off.  “No,” Dick answered firmly, already walking off to the entrance.  “Nix.”

More gunfire zipped down the tunnel towards them, a bullet ricocheting off the ground and hitting Dick in the shin.  Cursing, he stumbled, Nix catching him.

“Damnit,” Speirs growled.  “I said  _ frag ‘em  _ !  Everyone pull back!  Move!”

All four men at the entrance pulled grenade pins and tossed them down the tunnel at the same time.  The resulting explosions silencing the other end.

“No!” Dick argued as Nix started to pull him away.  “We have to go back!”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Speirs replied.  “Get ‘im down there to Roe.”

“We goin’ in?” Bill questioned.

“We’ll get a layout from Nixon and plan a way down to get the civilians.  Leave Roe and Lipton up here with them.”

That was of course when the alarms sounded again.  “No!” Dick yelled, trying to get out of Nix’s grasp.  “They’re closing the door!  They’ll change the code and we’ll never get back in!”

Grant, Christenson, and Malarkey all ran for the tunnel, only to be repelled by gunfire- even weakened as it was.  “Sons of bitches!” Malarkey yelled.  “Gonna get a goddamn mini nuke and shove it up your asses!”

“Good luck with that,” Nix commented dryly.  “Those doors are blast proof.  We’re not getting back in there.”

“No…”  That time Dick breathed the words out in defeat.  “No.”

“Set him down over here,” Lipton encouraged Nix, patting at a relatively flat rock where the path started to dip down.  Roe was still at the foot of it with their other injured man, their other two security members in between.

“Malark,” Grant encouraged, tugging at his arm.  Malarkey just shrugged him off, going and plopping down on the ground next to the one they’d called Buck.  The youngest of their security team was practically shaking, rooted to his spot, and Christenson went to talk to him while Grant took to hovering near his commanding officers.

Lieb, Toye, Bill, and Luz fanned out between the others, picking up conversation or watching their surroundings, leaving Lipton and Speirs to handle Winters.  “What happened?” Speirs asked again.

“Sink didn’t want to hear anything about opening the vault to trade,” Nix supplied.  “Things got ugly.”

Roe came up with his bag, taking a knee at Dick’s feet.  “Lemme see that.”

“How’s Web?” Dick asked.

“He’ll be fine.  I took out the bullet and wrapped it tight to stop the bleeding but I’ll need to get him back to town to check and make sure there’s nothing left in there.  Stitch ‘im up properly.”  Roe frowned down at the relatively shallow wound in Dick’s leg.  “Looks like I’ll have to do the same with you.”

Dick nodded, biting his lip as Roe started to examine his leg.  Dick looked up at Nix when the man took his hand, giving Nix a nod to continue.

“So Dick got pissed,” Nixon explained.  “Went and told the whole vault the truth.  Well, needless to say, shit hit the fan.  A lot of people wanted to keep the door closed, but others wanted to open them up for at least trading.  Some even wanted to welcome others in.  And then of course there was the ones that wanted to outright  _ leave  _ the vault.”

“Malarkey there was in the latter group,” Dick supplied as some of the pressure from Roe’s inspection eased.  “Everyone else here was open for trading and the idea of new people.”

“Hell,” Nix scoffed, “a lot of us were entertaining the  _ possibility  _ of leaving.  But we at least wanted the  _ choice  _ .”

Speirs sneered.  “And the Overseer wasn’t having any of it.”

“Nope.  Sobel and the rest of the security team turned on us.  We had a group holed up in the maintenance level.  We had gotten to our stash of weapons and we were going to make a push through to the door.”  Nix looked over at Malarkey and Buck, the former crying on the blonde’s shoulder.

It was Grant that explained from his place leaning against some rocks, “They killed Muck and Penkala.  They were just mechanics.  Weren’t even armed.”

“The ones left?”  Lipton was almost afraid to ask.

Dick’s expression was haunted.  “I can only imagine what Sobel’s men will do to them.”

“Hey Doc,” Christenson prompted when he walked over.  “Uh, Roe, right?  Can you come have a look at Babe when you’re done?”

Winters immediately tried to move, hissing when the piece of bullet was removed.  “Is he okay?”

Christenson nodded.  “Just cut up a bit.”  Dick sighed.

“Be there in a minute,” Roe assured, working at wrapping Dick’s leg.  He looked up at Speirs to report, “They’re stable enough to move.  Give me a minute to check on this last one and we can get them back to Welsh’s.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be  _ thrilled _ ,” Nix snarked.  When Dick turned his face into the crook of Nix’s neck, the man’s expression softened and he squeezed Dick’s hand.

Lipton smiled softly, looking up at Speirs and finding his lover was already looking fondly back.


	4. Chapter 4

“You alright?” Christenson prompted when he walked up to Babe.  The young guard just nodded, looking over at Web. With that medic of theirs moving over to help Dick, Web was left with one of the Vault 111 guys talking to him, while Buck and Malarkey sat off on their own.

They stood there in companionable silence for a while, Christenson wanting to offer comfort but not really knowing how.  Babe was still new to their circle of security officers and Christenson- like Grant and the others- felt obligated to watch out for him, take care of him.  Though probably none more than Winters himself, but then he did that with everyone.

They were all feeling the sting of betrayal and they were still in shock over Penkala and Muck being killed like that- how the hell had those fuckers gotten a grenade anyway?  Probably the same asshole that thought it was smart just to open a maintenance hatch and throw it down inside at them.  Christenson didn’t think it had really sunk in though that none of them were going home.

He looked over at Grant, the sight of him alive and whole reassuring.  Neither of them had wanted to leave the vault.  They’d simply wanted the opportunity to open it up to the outside world now that they knew it was a possibility.  They wanted to map the wasteland with Winters, Nix, and Buck like their officers had been wanting them to do.  But Vault 101 was still home and they wanted to lay their heads there at the end of the day.

Now that was ripped from them.  No choices left to make but moving forward.

He looked back at Babe, noticing the young man was still tense.  Babe’s knuckles were turning white from the way he held his handgun.  “Babe,” Christenson drew his attention, “holster your weapon.”

“Oh… yeah.”  Babe let up slowly, sliding his gun back in its holster.  “Guess I’m just…”  He didn’t finish, unable to find the words- though Christenson understood all the same.  Babe rubbed his sweaty hands on his thighs.

Except blood was left behind on his left side.  “Babe?”  Christenson reached out and snatched his hand.  “What happened?”

“Huh?”  Babe looked down, obviously surprised himself.  “How’d I do that?”

Christenson immediately went for the medic.  Only Babe could manage to hurt himself and not even know.  Still, he stuck by the kid until Roe was able to get to him before hopping up to sit on a nearby rock.

He managed to twist his lips into a brief smile when Grant slid down next to him.

* * *

“How did you manage to do that?” Roe asked, cradling the young man’s hand in his.

“Guess it must have been when I hit the vault door controls.”  He blushed.  “I kindda just launched myself at it.”  Roe raised a brow.  “We were under fire and I was trying to get down and…”  The blush only deepened; Roe found it endearing.

“Probably didn’t feel it because the adrenaline.”  Roe grabbed the antibiotic ointment.  “You did good,” he added.  “Probably saved your group.”  The man ducked his head, averting his eyes.  “What’s your name?  Babe?”

“It’s Edward,” he murmured, watching Roe as he worked the salve into the wound after wiping the blood away.  “Edward Heffron.  But everyone just calls me Babe.”  He gave a little shrug at Roe’s questioning look, offering a shy smile.  “It’s Roe, right?”

“Eugene,” Roe confirmed.  “This lot calls me Doc.”

“I like that name…  Gene,” Babe clarified.  “Suits you.”

Roe wasn’t sure what to say, muttering a “thank you” before he took a knee next to his bag.  He rummaged through it for another roll of bandages.

As he did so, he sought out everyone else by sight or sound, always so hyper aware of his team.  Luz, Bill, and Toye were talking while also watching over the whole group.  Lieb was distracted with Web surprisingly enough, while their officers sat working out a plan with Dick and Nix.

In his distraction he pulled out a blue bandana and froze.  It had been Renee’s, his wife before the war.  She, like everyone else in Vault 111, had died in those damn cryo lockers.  Why theirs managed to reverse the process successfully Roe didn’t know.  Maybe it had something to do with them being in a separate containment, each section being in blocks of six.

He stared at the blue cloth in his hand, the only thing he had left of Renee.  It was Babe’s gentle voice that brought him back.  “Gene?  You okay?”

“Hm?  Oh.  Yeah.”  He looked up into concerned eyes.  After another long moment, Roe ripped the cloth into a long strip.  It was time to move on.  “Here.”  He took Babe’s hand again in his, wrapping it up.

“Thank you,” Babe whispered, biting his lip.

Roe managed a brief smile up at him.  “You’re welcome… Edward.”

That made Babe’s eyes light up as he barked out a laugh.  It was a nice sound, one that made Roe smile for real that time.

* * *

“How’d you get hit?” Liebgott asked when Roe went off to do his thing.  “You’re obviously not security.”

The man- Web- gave him a lopsided grin.  “Considering I’m a teacher, I guess you would be right.”

“No shit?  What’d you teach?”

“History and literature.”

“Yeah?  I love to read.”  He looked over to make sure that Bill and Toye were still keeping watch- Luz wasn’t exactly capable of talking and keeping guard like they were.  “Not like there’s much to read out here though.”  He missed the old days when he could read his comics in peace.  Now he was lucky to find an issue that wasn’t falling apart.

Liebgott crouched down, riflebutt on the ground as he leaned against his gun.  “So how’d you get winged then?”

“The rest of the security team stuck with the Overseer,” Web explained, looking at the temporary binding on his thigh.  “They attacked us.  I was just one of the lucky ones I guess.”

“Got caught in the open,” Lieb assumed.

“I was making a run with Babe,” he tilted his head towards the jumpy guard.  “I went down when I was hit.  If it wasn’t for him I’d probably be dead.”

“That your boyfriend?” Liebgott asked bluntly.

Web sputtered, eyes widened.  “Boyfr- no.  Babe’s just a friend.”

“Well what with calling him ‘babe’ and all…”

Web chuckled then, shaking his head.  “No, that’s just what everyone calls him.  Don’t ask me why though.  No, I am quite single.”  He frowned then, looking back towards the tunnel to the vault.  “I guess even if I wasn’t…”  He looked at Liebgott then and Lieb noticed that a frown was not a good look on the doe-eyed Web.

Liebgott didn’t know what to say, instead switching topics.  “So you taught history, yeah?  What do you know about Operation Anchorage?”

Web’s eyes lit up and Liebgott knew he’d done well.  Sure enough Web started to talk adamantly about the battle that brought an end to the Chinese invasion of Alaska.  Although before Liebgott could regale him with his own first hand account, Roe was calling out that it was time to get moving.

“Alright,” Speirs ordered.  “Back to Megaton.  Toye and Guarnere up front.  Luz, take the rear with Grant and Christenson there.”

“I’ve got Web,” Liebgott assured, already helping the man to his feet.  “Here.  Hop on my back.”

“What?”

“Would you rather walk?”  Web couldn’t argue that, getting onto Liebgott’s back, wiggling a bit to adjust his weight before wrapping his arms around Lieb’s neck.  “Hang on Pretty.”

Web gave a grunt of protest.  “Not pretty,” he muttered, face buried in Lieb’s shoulder.

“Didn’t have mirrors in that vault of yours?”  Liebgott smiled as Web called him an idiot under his breath, knowing full well the man was blushing.  “No worries.  I won’t drop ya.”

Web’s arms tightened around him, his face turning into the crook of Lieb’s neck in response.

* * *

Nix’s arm wrapped around Dick, taking the weight from his one leg as he hopped along.  Speirs and Lipton walked beside them, the rest of their groups mingling somewhere in the middle.  He gave Dick’s hip a squeeze then.  “We’re still alive,” he mentioned softly, practically _hearing_ Dick’s thoughts.

“Nix-”

“No, you listen here Richard Winters.  You did _everything_ you could to stop this from happening.  Did everything to protect those people.  What happened is on Sink and Sobel.  Not you.”  Dick was frowning.  “ _We’re alive_ ,” Nix repeated.  “We still have each other.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Dick admitted softly.

Nix quirked his lips.  “And we’ve got these boneheads now too.”  Speirs scoffed while Lipton chuckled but Nix ignored them both as he pressed on.  “We’ll figure it out Dick…  We always do.”

“You’re welcome to stay with us,” Speirs commented, casual as could be.

“We all talked about it while we waited,” Lipton explained, “and we figured on scouting out a few more places around the Capital Wasteland before turning back for home.”  His arm slipped around Speirs’ waist.  “Could be home for you guys too.”

“Home,” Dick murmured.  He sighed dejectedly.  “All those people we left behind…”

Nix halted, giving Dick the stink eye.  “Now you listen here,” he barked.  “What the hell did I just say?  None of this is your fault!”

“Lew, I-”

“No!  How many times do I have to say it?  We’re alive!”  He held Dick’s face between his hands.  “I’m not going anywhere, okay?   _I love you_.  And we’ll figure this out together.  Just like we always do.”

Dick’s eyes widened and it took Nix a minute to realize what he’d just let out of the bag.  He wouldn’t take it back though.  It was just as well that Dick’s lips quirked into a smile.  “Love you too Lew.”  Dick leaned in then, pressing their lips together.  Nix smiled against his mouth as a few cheers and whoops were let out from their friends.

“It’s about damn time,” Christensen commented from behind them.

“Yeah, seriously,” Grant muttered.

“Save it you two,” Nix threw back, but he couldn’t help smiling all the same.  “Come on,” he encouraged, arm snuggly supporting Dick again.  “We need to get you off that leg.”  Nix ignored Lipton’s smile and that little smirk of Speirs’, though there wasn’t really ignoring the knowing grin on Buck’s face, or the goofy little one on Babe’s.

“Took you long enough Nix!” Web called back, laughing when Nix told him off.

“See if I tell you anything anymore Web!” Nix added.  Seriously, he really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut when it came to Webster, but they had been good friends for nearly as long as he’d been close with Dick.

For his part, Dick was at least smiling once again.  Nix gave him a squeeze, catching his eye and grinning right back.

They had just been thrust into an unbelievable situation.  The coming days would be a hard reality for all of the former vault dwellers to swallow, but they would make it through.  They still had each other and they weren’t alone.

Watching their mixed procession heading towards Megaton, Nix couldn’t help but feel hopeful about the future, the new one they would make together.

/End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know I set up for a bigger story but this was all the muse came up with. Perhaps one of these days she’ll think up some more substantial plot. Honestly, the only other thing I could think of when I was deciding which guys were gonna be where was that Martin, Bull, Shifty, and maybe Perco would be Brotherhood of Steel. Not a lot to go on. But, as with all things I write, never say never. Case in point, this all came completely out of left field, so there could always be something that pops up in the future.
> 
> Until then follow me here on AO3 and over on [Tumblr](http://thedenofcaseywolfe.tumblr.com/). Always up for a chat!


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